Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Daniel Barrera: "The last of the great capos" gets 35 years in N.Y. sentencing

Lucio R. Borderland Beat Material from archives, U.S. website and The Guardian

Barrera being extradited to the U.S.

Colombia describes
Barrera “the last of the great capos”….

Dusk was falling in the
evening of 2012 as the ordinary looking
middle-aged man, parked his car opposite the towering white statue of an angel
in the Andean mountain city of San Cristobal near Venezuela's border with
Colombia.

Daniel Barrera walked
the few feet to a bank of public payphones facing the church, picked up the
handset and dialed a number. He had barely begun his conversation when, to the
shock of shopkeepers and passers-by, dozens of armed police appeared - and the
20-year career of the last of the notorious Colombian drug barons was over.

Known simply as
"el Loco" - "the crazy one" - for his for violent mood
swings and ruthless dispatch of rivals, Barrera was captured by Venezuelan
security officers without a fight last week as he telephoned a subordinate to
issue instructions.

"He just shrugged
and had the look of a resigned man who knew his time was up," a street
vendor who witnessed the arrest told The Sunday Telegraph. "The National
Guard pulled up on motorbikes and he surrendered without a struggle. It was over
in no time."

The Venezuelan swoop
was conducted after a months-long monitoring operation in coordination with
Colombia, Britain's MI6 and American
intelligence, an indication of the depth
of concerns about Barrera's kingpin status trafficking cocaine to the US and
Europe.

He has been described
as the trafficker “most like Pablo Escobar”, and one who had elected to change
his appearance through plastic surgery, and altering his fingerprints by using
acid.

The Colombian, 48,
eventually pleaded guilty to charges by
the United States, and on Monday a Manhattan judge, Gregory Woods, described
Barrera’s crimes “staggering”, sentenced Barrera to 35 years in prison.

Judge Woods rejected
Barrera’s defense plea for leniency. The
leniency please was centered on the guilty plea, offer of cooperation.

The sentence also
included a 10 million dollar forfeiture in addition to a 10M dollar fine.

U.S. prosecutors
contend that Barrera had shipped, tons of cocaine to the United States, in a massive drug trafficking operation. The operation trafficked drugs to four
continents using narco subs to transport the product.

Barrera admitted to the
distribution of 400 tons per month during the years of 1998 to 2011. He was captured in Venezuela in 2012 and
extradited to the U.S. in 2013, where he changed his not guilty plea to guilty
in 2014.

His attorneys asked for
consideration of a lesser sentence, stating his clients offer to provide
information with information had been rejected.
The information included directing the U.S. to a bomb maker and top
member of FARC. He was a key associate of FARC.

The offer was rejected.

48 of Barrera's vehicles seized at one of his properties

The U.S. refuted that
there was a rejection of such important information, stating they were able to
develop the information independent of Barrera’s cooperation.

Barrera spoke at the
sentencing hearing stating it is his hope that one day he will be able to see
his grandchildren.

Prior to sentencing,
Barrera told the judge he hoped to someday again to enjoy and see his
grandchildren. He also asked for his
family’s forgiveness for the suffering they have endured because of his
actions.

The
sentencing filing below was filed yesterday and contains facts and specifics of
the case:

46 comments:

If he was that huge moving "400 tons a month"....Why was he arrested in venezuela like any street thug without body guard, making a phone call from a public phone. With 20 million dollar fine? Moving that much weight would had made him billions of dollars/month, enough to go to war with all the capos, north to south. LoL

You think he was going to be risking his and his family's life for nothing. Obviously there are bigger monsters above him, who probably kept a good chunk of the drug traficking. But he was definitely not that huge, if he had been things would had gone down a diff way... Like not getting extradited or at least not that fast. Smfh'

When nobody is going to listen to you, garranteed, no witnesses are going to be called to testify on your behalf, and your testimony is not wanted or needed and won't be on the record any time soon, that is to protect THE PRESIDENTE, IN THIS CASE, ALVARO URIBE VELEZ, FOR THE LAST 30 OR 40 YEARS, in colombia...

Daniel el loco barrera's plea is not being accepted because the US government does not want el loco to say who was the biiig guy behind him, presidente juan manuel santos or alvaro uribe velez, or both colombian presidentes...they in cahoots with mexican pooliticians like epn and the duartes and the rest of the inner circles and "Comunidad del Anillo" and "la Cofradia de la Mano Caida" and "la hermandad policiaca" del DF

I know right? To be honest with you I didn't even know about this guy 'till I read about him in BB,another example of living the life with bitches, parties, a lot of money,mountains of coca on tha table with plenty of pisto and shit, all for what? Was it worth it canadian baby?From....

Mexicans laugh at COLOMBIANS Because they once had it all; Mexicans also laugh at COLOMBIANS because they swear they're still running shit, really it's the Bolivians and Peruvians. Colombians got cut out and now work for THE MEXICANS who in turn are now laughing all the way to the bank. , As for the MEXICAN corridos they've been part of the Mexican culture for decades. Just like that nasty ass AGUA-ARDIENTE and Fried plantains..maybe the Colombians are still bitter and should go back and focus on soccer, or boxing..

Please, El Loco Barrera, must have been sending drugs to mars too.His partners remain untouched, working for the new "powers that be" that still support former culonbian presidente Alvaro Uribe Velez, and now presidente "el traidor" Juan Manuel Santos, bit of whom have worked tightly hand on hand fighting the "culombian guerrillas" and the drug traffickers with their own narco autodefensas unidas de colombia "de Alvaro Uribe" both presidentes working with all of the involved to steal the international drug trafficking business from anybody, including the mexican narcos, in exchange for US military bases all over Culombia to protect the US share of the bizznezzzz.It is no coincidence that drug trafficking continues unabated all over the world...no matter how many "locos" emerge or come down...

So either you jelous of sinaloa because ur say they are fachoso , but why is it that el mayo zambada never been caugth or el azul after prision never seen againg , there goes ur statement that sinaloa are fachosos

This guy has a point, out of a million sinaloenses only 2 are untouchable, at least that's what it seems like. What about el mayo zambada's sons locked up in U.S prisons. The only winners are the government that never get charged and are neck deep in the drug game. Real spit

9:22 DEA is clearly protecting somebody, so much for "ORAL TRIALS" and "open proceedings" and not making deals in dark quiet, full of smoke rooms, everybody can get neck deep in the shit with some privacy...roll that shit up the hill...

Really ! 35 years . Admitting to moving that kind of weight ? As ruthless as Pablo Escobar ? Come on now . I have seen people get more time than that for a personal stash . He will be out in a few years . Once they get to the status of this asshole the should never breath another free breath . Not chapo , mochomo or any asshole .

The "last" ??? What a joke. Colombians are just smarter and more evolved then the mexican animals. They dont leave chopped off heads on the streets or attract the stupid attention mexicans are doing. The big colombians could be sitting next to you at mcd and you would never know it. The only flashy people you see these days in Colombia are the wannabes and nobodies.